At The Stock Exchange

Accra, Aug. 20, - Index-weighted Ashanti Goldfields Company (AGC) tripped for the second time in a week sending the GSE All-Share Index into a tumble. The Index lost 0.22 points to settle at 413.40 points, down from the previous all-time high of 413.62 points registered on Monday. The Exchange's top blue chip went down by a whopping 600 cedis, apparently in reaction to the continuing fall in price of gold on the world market. The equity lost 85 cents on the London Stock Exchange at 322.05 dollars. On Monday the commodity sold at 322.90 dollars. Analysts said "there are chances of the commodity going down further, but it will definitely rise since gold always has a place on the world market". Despite the dismal performance of the equity investors were still upbeat about its future and demanded more than 13,000 shares, but only 110 were supplied. The number of shares which exchanged hands climbed to 68,110 compared to 38,740 shares at the last trading session. Total demand of 4,283,330 again by far outweighed supply to 206,110. Pioneer Tobacco Company sold the most shares of 20,600. CFAO sold 15,800 and GCB, 15,000. Market capitalisation, reflecting the drastic fall in the price of AGC, the most heavily capitalised company at the exchange, dropped to 2,818.19 billion cedis against Monday's close of 2,881.65 billion cedis. In the broader market, five equities gained while one lost. Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) improved to 675 cedis making five cedis in the process while Guinness Ghana Limited (GGL) gained three cedis to finish at 368 cedis. Mechanical Lloyd Company (MLC) inched up by two cedis to close mid-week trading at 167 cedis. Mobil Oil Ghana Limited (MOGL) regained the one cedi it lost on Monday to end at 6,000 cedis while PTC gained eight cedis at 330. AGC lost 600 cedis to close at 21,000. The following are the last prices of listed equities quoted in cedis:

ABL 652 AGC 21,000 -600 ALW 1,300 CFAO 35 EIC 574 FML 385 GCB 675 +5 GGL 368 +3 HFC 165 KBL 840 MGL 180 MLC 167 +2 MOGL 6, 000 +1 PAF 155 PTC 330 +8 PZ 310 SCB 5,800 SPPC 100 SSB 1,430 UNIL 960 UTC-E 75